Mitchell

Dove that ventured outside, flying far from the dovecote:housed and protected again, one with the day, the night,knows what serenity is, for she has felt her wingspass through all distance and fear in the course of her wanderings.

The doves that remained at home, never exposed to loss,innocent and secure, cannot know tenderness;only the won-back heart can ever be satisfied: free,through all it has given up, to rejoice in its mastery.

Being arches itself over the vast abyss.Ah the ball that we dared, that we hurled into infinite space,Doesn’t it fill our hands differently with its return:heavier by the weight of where it has been.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)

Source: Ahead of All Parting: The Selected Poetry and Prose of Rainer Maria Rilke (Modern Library) (English & German Edition)